From A1 to C1 in 9 months – Maria’s Success Story

From A1 to C1 in 9 months – Maria’s Success Story

Maria, originally from Venezuela, just finished her C1 course. It’s a great success story for Maria (and ActiLingua as well) because one year ago she couldn’t even speak one word of German. In the last 9 months she worked her way up from course level A1 (which is absolute beginner) to C1 which means you have a good command of German. We took the opportunity to congratulate her on her fast progress in learning German and asked her some questions about the time she spent at ActiLingua Academy.

Maria’s Motivation

Last summer Maria moved to Vienna with her husband. “I wanted to learn German because Vienna is my new home.” she tells us.
Before she came to Austria she couldn’t speak a single word of German. But she knew that she needed a very good language school to learn it. She found us through her friends: “After asking some friends we noticed that the ones who studied at ActiLingua Academy spoke German more fluently and better.” So she decided to learn German with us as well. And she treated leaning German like her first real job in Vienna.

The first course

In July 2014 Maria had her first German lesson at the level A1: “The lessons were great, we were not more than 12 people in one class, so we learned quickly.” Within a short time, Maria knew her first German words and some basic grammar. By treating learning German as a job and through support from our teachers, Maria achieved her first successes: “Thanks to the nice teachers we were learning in a nice and easy manner. So, I was able to improve my German skills quickly and proceed to the next course level.”

Maria‘s favourite places in Vienna

The longer she is staying in Vienna, the more she loves the city, Maria tells us: „Vienna is great, a beautiful and green city with a lot of nature. “ During her German courses she participated in many activities of the ActiLingua culture and leisure programme. She got to know the city and the people who live here better. One of her most favourite parts of Vienna is the Ring Boulevard, where you can see many historical and important buildings. Maria also likes the Donauturm and Kahlenberg, which both offer a gorgeous view over Vienna.

Maria’s not only fond of buildings in Vienna. She also likes the culinary aspect of the city: “You can drink very good white wine in Austria. There are “Heurige” (traditional wine taverns) where you can drink wine, eat delicious food and enjoy the great atmosphere. You have to taste a lot of things when you’re in Vienna: the wine, a “Melange” (coffee), apple strudel, Sacher cake, Kaiserschmarrn and every soup you come across.”

Diversified classes

Maria made some major progress in learning German after a couple of weeks already. So she proceeded to the next class rather quickly. Each class is taught by two teachers – one for grammar and one for converstaion. “That’s a great thing because every teacher has his/her own way to teach and the variations make it easier for me to learn German.”

She did not only like the teachers, but the classes itself as well: “Classes are varied, the teachers are nice and you really learn a lot.” Now, after her time at ActiLingua Academy, Maria can express herself clearly on a large number of topics and understands almost all texts. You wouldn’t guess that she couldn’t speak a word German when she came to Austria one year ago.

Congratulations to Maria for making such a great progress in learning German. We’re glad we were a part of her success story. If you want to write your own success story visit us at ActiLingua Academy, too!